In 2025, the World Economic Forum stressed that, amid rapidly evolving technology and changing demographics, people must be adaptable and look for ways to enhance their skills. This helps to ensure that they can continue to perform meaningful work and remain competitive when seeking employment.
To strengthen their skills, people can take several approaches. For example, upskilling (building on existing skills) or reskilling (gaining skills for a new area) are two ways to acquire expertise and potentially add new credentials to a resume.
Anyone interested in upskilling or reskilling should consider professional certificate programs and degree programs as possible paths forward.
What Is Upskilling?
When developing career plans, it can be helpful to understand what upskilling is and how it can support career goals.
Think of upskilling as the process of acquiring new skills to build on existing knowledge in a particular field. Consider these examples:
- An individual in marketing can acquire new social media skills to keep pace with marketing trends and incorporate new channels into marketing campaigns.
- A project manager can acquire new skills in analytics and data visualization to improve project monitoring.
- A human resources (HR) professional can expand their skills by learning about total rewards and the incentives an organization can use to attract and retain employees.
People can also upskill their soft skills. For example, enhancing existing skills in areas such as communication, leadership, and teamwork is a great way for them to prepare for new roles or responsibilities in the workplace.
Beyond career advancement, upskilling can improve job security, enhance workplace effectiveness, and increase adaptability to new technologies and processes.
What Is Reskilling?
After learning what upskilling is, it can be helpful to contrast it with reskilling.
What is reskilling exactly? Think of it as the process of gaining entirely new skills in preparation for working in a new area. As labor markets evolve, the demand for certain skills can diminish, so people need to reskill to acquire new competencies that enable them to work in new fields. In other cases, people may be looking for new challenges and simply want to launch careers in different fields. For example:
- An administrative assistant can develop expertise in talent acquisition, employee relations, and workplace policies to transition into HR.
- A programmer can acquire skills in project oversight to transition into project management.
- A retail worker can gain new technology skills to transition into data analytics or cybersecurity.
People may also develop new soft skills as part of a reskilling effort. For example, learning negotiation or conflict resolution techniques can support transition into a new role or field.
Methods of Upskilling and Reskilling
After gaining an understanding of what upskilling and reskilling are, the next step is deciding how to pursue skill development. Sometimes employers offer employees professional development opportunities to upskill or reskill. Professional organizations may also offer certification programs to help people enhance their skills.
University programs can offer strong paths for upskilling or reskilling through certificate programs as well as graduate and undergraduate degree programs.
Professional Education Certificates
Depending on an individual’s goals, it may not be necessary to earn a new degree to upskill or reskill. Some universities offer certificate programs that allow professionals to acquire skills in specific areas. For example, universities offer certificate programs in subjects such as:
- Artificial intelligence (AI)
- Design thinking
- Leadership
- Talent acquisition and retention
- Management
Individuals can complete many certificate programs in as few as five weeks, and they can choose from instructor-led or self-paced programs. Some universities allow individuals to stack multiple certificates and earn a broader certificate in a subject such as HR management.
In addition to certificate programs, some universities offer technology boot camps that help people develop skills in areas such as data analytics or cybersecurity.
Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree Programs
Individuals who prefer to pursue upskilling or reskilling through a more comprehensive educational experience can choose to earn a bachelor’s or master’s degree in growing fields such as:
- Health informatics
- Digital communication
- Supply chain management
Earning a graduate degree can allow people to gain advanced expertise and specialize in, or transition into, in-demand fields such as:
- Business administration for healthcare organizations
- Applied AI
- Business analytics
Advance Your Career Through Upskilling or Reskilling
Understanding what upskilling and reskilling are is the first step in deciding how to expand skills to align with specific career goals. Whether enhancing their skills in an existing area or acquiring new skills to move into a different field, people have several options for taking their careers to the next level.
Bryant University offers instructor-led or self-paced professional certificate programs that can help students, recent graduates, and working professionals reach their career goals. It provides individuals with the opportunity to earn a wide variety of certificates in topics such as:
- AI
- Finance
- Healthcare
- HR
- Leadership
- Marketing
- Project management
- Technology
Bryant also offers custom corporate training programs for organizations that want to help their employees enhance their skills.
For those looking to earn a new degree, Bryant also offers undergraduate degree programs and graduate degree programs in disciplines such as business, health and behavioral sciences, and humanities and social sciences.
Start your journey to upskilling or reskilling today.